Salad days

It’s a mistake I make over and over again: ordering a salad at a restaurant.

I do it because I’m not hungry enough for a full meal, or I want to add some veggies to my dinner of fried shrimp and French fries.

At most, restaurants, the result is the same: the server sets down a disappointing plate of iceberg lettuce, some croutons, some shredded cheese and, if I’m lucky, a wedge of a sickly pink tomato. I wind up hungry and $6-$7 poorer.

The worst offender is a restaurant just southeast of downtown that provides every diner with a bowl of iceberg lettuce and shredded carrots. When I go there with my less-than-health-conscious male friends, I have to watch them pour a cup of fatty ranch dressing in the bowl and say proudly, “Look! I’m eating a salad!”

It drives me crazy.

Some restaurants are better. Twin Sisters, for example, has great Greek and spinach salads. You can add a scoop of tuna or chicken salad to the plate too.

Your best bet is going to a restaurant that has a good salad bar. Souper Salad even provides the nutritional content for its salad ingredients, and its other food too, on its Web site.

If you’re making your own salad at a restaurant or at home, check out these recommendations for ingredients from the American Dietetic Association:

Dark greens, such as spinach or romaine

Colorful vegetables including carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, beets and broccoli. Or fruits such as apple slices or mandarin oranges

Nuts (almonds, pecans) or sunflower seeds

Light dressing (if you want to use a heavier dressing–I love blue cheese–just go easy on how much you use)

To make it a meal, add a source of protein such as chicken, turkey, crab, tuna, tofu or beans (garbanzo, kidney)